UQ did not mislead anyone: VC

THE vice-chancellor of a Queensland university embroiled in a nepotism scandal has denied journalists were ever misled.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission on Friday released its report into the scandal at the University of Queensland, where the daughter of former vice-chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield was given a publicly-funded placement despite falling short of entry requirements.

She was awarded a place in the medical school over 343 more suitable applicants, even though she failed a qualifying exam.

The CMC was scathing of the university, saying it put its reputation above the public interest in 2011 by downplaying the scandal to investigating journalists.

The scandal forced the resignation of Prof Greenfield and deputy vice-chancellor Professor Michael Keniger in late 2011.

Mr Greenfield's successor, Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Hoj says he does not believe the university misled journalists or the public.

"There's a fine line between people misleading and people not telling the full story," Prof Hoj told ABC radio on Monday.

"In this particular case I think the word 'cute' has been used to describe how the university communicated to the wider society what was happening."

However, he admitted the university should have been more transparent.

"I'm not sitting here saying that they misled anybody but we should have, in the circumstances, communicated in a much more open and transparent fashion. There's no doubt about that."

He said the university will take no action against Mr Greenfield's daughter because there was no evidence she was aware strings were being pulled for her or that she misled the university.

He said tougher admission processes had been put in place to prevent nepotism.

Any suspicions or irregular student admissions must be reported to the academic board, he said.

"I can guarantee that going forward it is much much less likely to happen and it's very unlikely that it would not come to light much sooner," Prof Hoj said.

A spokeswoman later sought to clarify Professor Hoj's comments, referring to a statement released on Friday that said UQ's release of information about the key resignations were subject to "competing interests".

"The University accepts, however, that its response was not well handled and acknowledges that it lacked the transparency called for in the circumstances," it read.